Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, George
Walker, Kirk O'Green and Ruby wrestled the Bus down from the
Oregon Willamette valley through the tully fog laiden Sacramento
valley of Northern California into San Francisco where on a bright
winter Saturday afternoon they were joined by other Pranksters
to prepare for the11th Digital Be-In and first Drug Peace Conference.
George artfully maneuvered the cacophonous
Further up and down the crowded San Francisco streets to the
amazement and delight of the citizens of the late Herb Caen's
beloved Bagdad-by-the-Bay. 
The
Bus touched down into the Marina district off the Golden Gate
Bridge on its way to North Beach rendezvousing with Pranksters
Laird and son, Karen, Big Lil' and Trixie. All aboard, nice to
see ya', you're looking good. Who's on top? Next stop SOMAR,
site of the Digital Be-In and Drug Peace Conference to pick up
Really? who boards with two pounds of See's assorted chocolates,
a Prankster antidote for the munchied sweet tooth!
The
Bus cruises up Ninth toward Market street - boulevard of lost
souls and holy soles. Grinding its way up the hill on Haight
street past Fillmore, the gen-Xer's hanging at the sidewalk cafes
gesture approval to the iconical comical rolling artshow interupting
their lattes and beers with riffs and raffs about this and that.
Further up Haight, the Bus encounters the laid back hippy ensembles
in front of storefronts at Magnolia Brewery and Positively Haight
Street at Masonic. Past Ben & Jerry's at Ashbury where the
Bus requests two gallons of Wavy Gravy and eight quarts of Cherry
Garcia over the sound system. The younger hippies wave approvingly
while the old hippies glowed admiringly remembering the history
of the grand Bus and its significance to the scene they inhabit.
The
Bus cruised all the way to the end of Haight street and turned
around for the return trip. The Pranksters chorteled instructions
to
"Tune into 105.7fm, the Buzz from the Bus where you can
listen to us". George hung a right onto Divisadero and
headed right into the heart of the Castro district attempting
to turn left into heavy traffic. The grid locked situation provided
the Pranksters with a captive audience to riff at. The heart
of San Francisco's gay mecca has witnessed much outrageous behavior
but they were definitely amused and delighted at the sounds and
sights that was temporarily stuck in the center of their universe.
The
third light change was the charm, the Bus was now rolling down
18th into the Mission district resembling one of those elaborately
painted and adorned Mexican buses except this Bus was doling
out strangeness over the sound system at the throngs of Saturday
afternoon shoppers, grifters and panhandlers. It was Hunter S.Thompson
who said "when things get weird, the weird turn pro".
With
one more right turn, the Bus is about to end it's round trip
ending up back at SOMAR to prepare for the evenings' activities.
George delicately backed the Bus along side the garden laiden
driveway parking in front of twenty-five foot high doors leading
into the large art gallery and soon to be digital rave scene.
Kesey and Babbs greet Phil DeGuere, co-founder of the Drug Peace
Conference and one of our hosts for the evening. 
The
scene is surveyed and a plan is established. Are we there yet?
Has anyone heard from Barlow? Good plans die hard. Remember,
the father of necessity is improvisation!
It's showtime, the Bus is on display lit up
like it is still Christmas. The digital citizens attending the
Be-In are impressed with its visual display. The Drug Peace Conference
speakers inside the cavernous SOMAR are espousing the thrill
of the demise of the Republican party in California. 
They
talk about the injustice of the sentences being served for possession
of benign substances and the hypocritical nature of the War On
Drugs. Hundreds of people are listening to the diatribe and wondering
throughout the various large rooms adorned with much art and
pulsating synthesis of music.
Now it's Kesey and Babbs' turn to set the
record straight or was the goal to whip the crowd into a hyperbolic
frenzy? Preceeded by the inimitable John Barlow, freedom of speech
doyen of the internet, Kesey and Babbs
transmorgrified Barlow's serious intonation into an improvisatory
collaboration of riffs accompanied by Kesey on the Theremin,
an electrical box with opposing electrical currents controllable
by moving the left and right hands adjacent to the two antennas.
The Theremin was designed in the thirties to create the odd and
unusual sounds for scary movies.
The
Digital Be-In attendees were mesmerized by the three psychedelic
statesmen as they were joined on stage by George Walker. The
Drug Peace Conference was now at its peak as the Bozos accompanied
by the ten foot tall MadHatters waded into the crowd in front
of the stage accompanied by the fire dancer Sunya. The Digital
Be-In was now a full-tilt-boogie rave with sound generated by
no less than four separate systems overlapping each other as
the Pranksters returned to the Bus to enjoy the rest of the night.
The choir had been
preached to and they celebrated their enlightenment into the
next day.
Once again, the cosmic giggle fufilled all
expectations...
pay attention, it's Coming Around.
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